


Homage

by Annwyn



Category: Lord of the Rings (2001 2002 2003), Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-06
Updated: 2010-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 01:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annwyn/pseuds/Annwyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Upon watching RotK, I wondered why the hobbits were so simply dressed for the wedding of the King and found an answer that satisfied me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homage

"I feel like a sparrow amid a splendor of peacocks," Merry grumbled, craning his neck in a vain attempt to see through the press of bodies around them.

"Make that four sparrows, Merry," Pippin returned, flicking disgustedly at his nondescript clothing. "Shirtsleeves! They could've found us coats, at least."

"Well, you're the one for fancy clothes, Mr. Merry, and I don't mind for meself, but Mr. Frodo, now... Sam's brows beetled belligerently. "Why, we'd a been an orc's dinner long since if it weren't for him. He deserves to be up there with all the important folk, he does."

"Hush, all of you," Frodo's soft voice carried clearly over the din. "We are simple hobbits of the Shire, and simple hobbits we will stay. I am perfectly content with what I wear. It is the King's crowning, after all, and we are only a tiny part of it."

"And who got it for him, I'd like to know?" muttered Sam, undaunted. "You should be up there, handing him his blasted crown. I'd like to give him a piece of my mind, so I would."

"Oh, Sam. I didn't do anything special. We all did what we had to do, and, well, you're my real hero, if you must know." Frodo smiled at his friend gently. "I wouldn't have gotten back without my Sam."

Sam blushed, and shook his head. "I'm no hero, Mr. Frodo - 'cause if I did somethin', it weren't for Middle-earth, if you follow me." His brown eyes shone golden in the sun as he gazed at his master.

"I do, Sam." Frodo smiled lovingly back. "And I treasure that knowledge above all the honours and fancy silks that you think I should have. Do _you_ follow me?"

"Aye, Mr Frodo - I do," Sam replied bashfully. He caught his breath at the beauty and goodness that shone from his master's face. He didn't need any adornment to make him special, that he didn't!

A gust of wind blew a cloud of white petals into their faces, and a ripple stirred the crowd ahead.

"The King is coming," Merry hissed. "Remember to bow."

"Why?" Pippin objected. "It's only Strider, after all. He won't mind."

"The King of the West to you, Peregrin Took," Frodo admonished. "Don't shame the Shire, now."

The crowd parted, and the King and his lady Arwen loomed over them, glinting in the sunlight, magnificent and lofty as the sky. They dropped their eyes and bobbed their heads in clumsy obeisance, and a soft voice stopped them in mid-bow.

"No, my friends," the King said, and his voice rose, ringing out to carry over the multitude.

_"You bow to no one."_

Then He knelt before them; He and his queen-to-be, and all their people with them.

The four stared about them in open-mouthed wonder - no longer the shy sparrows of the hedgerow, but beings worthy of a King's homage. Their very simplicity lent the scene a gravity that no amount of silk and velvet would have conveyed.

Frodo heard the Lady's prophecy again, whispering in the darkness of his mind; _Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..._ and as he looked upon the honour paid them, he realized that it had truly come to pass. For Gollum too, had been the smallest and most wretched of beings, and he had done his part as well.

The weight on his spirit lifted for a moment, lightened by unlooked-for gratitude and the outpouring of love that they all could feel, and he felt tears of relief start to his eyes.

"Oh my," Sam whispered.

And clearly to their ears came the irrepressible Took's pithy response.

_"Well now!" _Pippin murmured gleefully. _"This is more like it!"_


End file.
